Bhaskar Sarkar

Col Sarkar has a kitchen garden on the terrace of his house. It was started with the aim of cooling the first floor. It produces pesticide free vegetables using mostly organic manure. It is not a profit making venture. It is a hobby and it gives great pleasure to eat something that you have grown in your own garden. It also enables him to grow things he loves but that are not available in the local market like baby corn, pumpkin flowers and stem, “Lal Shak”, pink radish both round and long, Aloe Vera etc.

Details

The garden consists of about 70 ft of 2 ft wide beds, a central patch of 14 ft sq and about 5 large cement pots and 20 one ft earthen pots. To protect the roof, plastic sheets were laid and covered with about 8 in of earth. The edges of the beds are constructed with tiles and bricks. Some seepage problem is seen and efforts are on to  control the problem.

Suggestions are welcome.    

Vegetables Grown

Aloe Vera, spinach and mint are grown round the year. Baby corn, string beans, pump
kin, bottle gourd, ridge gourd are grown round the year except between November and February. Radish, French beans and peas are grown after monsoon. Lady’s finger is grown but is very prone to attack by insects. Planting and harvesting goes on round the year. Three to four crops of baby corn are grown every year.

Watering

There is a plastic sprinkler at the center of the central patch. An improvise drip system provides water to the beds and pots. However, the water retention of all beds and pots is not the same. So a backup of a garden hose and some storage has been kept.

Pest Control

This is the most difficult part. I find that pests are of two types, those in the soil and those are above the ground. Most pesticides for root diseases are strong chemicals which I want to avid. I am relying mostly on Neem oil cake and a Neem based chemical called Nimbosin. However, root diseases, particularly in French beans and Bhindi persists. Above the ground is an even bigger problem. Since I do not want to spray chemicals, spraying Nimbosin is the only alternative. Mechanical means like covering vegetables with cloth to protect against boring insect or cutting and removing plant parts affected by sucking  pests.

Manure

Two types of Manure are used. The first is vermin-compost produced by processing cow dung with earthworms. The second a magic potion prepared by fermenting 250g each Neem oil cake and mustard oil cake in 10 ltrs of water with 200g each of urea and DAP and about 5g of slaked lime for seven days. 250 ml of the liquid is then mixed in 10 ltrs of water. 200 ml of the liquid is given to each plant once a week.